April Jones who was abducted while out playing near her home in the Bryn Y Gog estate in Machynlleth

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AN OAP saw a car speed away from the spot where April Jones vanished.

The distraught 70-year-old said moments earlier he had seen her playing with pals but she suddenly disappeared. As the hunt for April, five, became a murder inquiry yesterday, he added: “I'm kicking myself that I did not raise the alarm.”

The pensioner told how he was filled with anguish at what he saw. He has been ­interviewed four times by police.

Officers now fear it is unlikely April will be found alive.

The shaken neighbour, who did not want to be named, recalled the moment he spotted April before she was kidnapped.

The man said: “I was home on Monday night as usual and saw little April playing outside with her friends.

“They were riding their bikes up and down the street, like they have been all summer.

“A driver kept cruising up and down the road where the kids were playing.

“I thought it was a little odd but nothing more and then I noticed the car parked up next to the garages which was strange because no one would park there usually.

“The kids were still playing at that point.

“But suddenly they weren’t there and I noticed the car drive briskly down the road towards the town centre.

“To be honest I thought nothing of it until people started banging on my door about half an hour later, asking if I’d seen April.

“Then I realised the significance of what I’d seen. But why would a person think something so sinister could be happening in front of their house?”

The witness spoke as ­detectives continued to quiz Mark Bridger, 46, after he was arrested on suspicion of murdering April. Forensic experts were yesterday searching rubbish bins, gardens and sheds around April’s home.